{"id":12164,"date":"2024-03-28T13:02:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T13:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/the-japanese-sensei-bringing-baseball-to-brazil-2\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T13:02:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T13:02:33","slug":"the-japanese-sensei-bringing-baseball-to-brazil-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/the-japanese-sensei-bringing-baseball-to-brazil-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Japanese Sensei Bringing Baseball to Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/28\/world\/28brazil-japan-baseball-promo\/28brazil-japan-baseball-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Japanese Sensei Bringing Baseball to Brazil\" title=\"The Japanese Sensei Bringing Baseball to Brazil\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yukihiro Shimura always arrives first. He quietly puts on his baseball uniform. He rakes the dirt field meditatively. He picks up the coconut husks and dog poop. And, finally, when he finishes, he bows to Rio de Janeiro\u2019s only baseball field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then his misfit team \u2014 including a geologist, graphic designer, English teacher, film student, voice actor and motorcycle delivery man \u2014 starts to form. Most are in their 20s and 30s, and some are still learning the basics of throwing, catching and swinging a bat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was not what Mr. Shimura envisioned when he signed up for this gig. \u201cIn my mind, the age range would be 15 to 18,\u201d he said. \u201cI should have asked.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For the past two decades, Mr. Shimura, 53, was one of Japan\u2019s top high-school baseball coaches. Now he is more than 10,000 miles from home, on a two-year mission from the Japanese government to spread the gospel of baseball.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The challenge is that Japan sent him to the land of soccer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite being the largest nation in Latin America \u2014 the region that has fueled baseball\u2019s growth in recent decades \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/29\/world\/americas\/yankees-caps-brazil.html\" title=\"\">Brazil is baffled by the sport<\/a>. Brazilians say that compared with their national pastime, baseball has too many rules, too much equipment and too much standing around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a result, although many Brazilians wear New York Yankees caps, they often have no idea that the insignia represents the storied baseball team in the Bronx. And as Major League Baseball kicks off another season in the United States on Thursday, many Brazilians actually think of baseball as largely a Japanese sport.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That is because most people who play baseball here are part of the world\u2019s largest Japanese diaspora, according to the Japanese government, estimated at roughly two million Japanese immigrants to Brazil and their descendants, a community that began with economic migration in the early 20th century. It is also because Mr. Shimura is the latest in a long line of Japanese coaches who have come to Brazil to teach baseball.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The coaches are hired by a Japanese government program that sends Japanese experts and money around the world to aid infrastructure and environmental projects as well as to teach cultural exports, like Japanese cooking, language and kendo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are nine baseball coaches in Brazil in the current cohort. As usual, nearly all of them are in S\u00e3o Paulo, home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI was actually surprised that the level of baseball in Brazil is quite high,\u201d Mr. Shimura said, noting that Brazil\u2019s national baseball team finished a surprising second in the Pan American Games last year. \u201cBut that is only in S\u00e3o Paulo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Shimura was not assigned there. Instead, he is the program\u2019s second Japanese coach in Brazil\u2019s mecca of samba and soccer: Rio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Shimura\u2019s life has revolved around baseball. He said he latched onto the sport as a child as an escape from the taunting he endured for sharing his birth name with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/02\/obituaries\/ken-shimura-dead-coronavirus.html\" title=\"\">one of Japan\u2019s most famous slapstick comedians<\/a>, Ken Shimura. (He later changed his name.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then it turned out he was very good at the sport \u2014 an outfielder who could field, hit and run \u2014 and he enrolled in an elite baseball school to pursue dreams of playing in Japan\u2019s major leagues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he never made it past the semipro circuit. In that league, each team is owned by a large Japanese corporation, and players split their time between baseball and work. Mr. Shimura played for Kawai Musical Instruments, building pianos in the morning and practicing in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After seven years, he moved to coaching, eventually at a high school where he led teams to Japan&#8217;s prestigious national baseball tournament. But he said he has never had a challenge like what he faces in Rio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When he decided to go abroad, leaving his wife and adult children for two years, he hoped to give back while having an adventure. He had dreams of developing talented young players in a baseball hotbed like the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, he found himself instructing adults who had first picked up a baseball, in some cases, just weeks before. The team in Rio competes periodically against five other teams in the Rio suburbs, where there are more baseball diamonds and where Mr. Shimura also coaches on weekends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo be honest, I was like: \u2018Ouch. Why did I do this?\u2019\u201d he recalled in his sparse, meticulously organized Rio rental unit, complete with a hot plate. (He receives a stipend from the Japanese government to cover his living expenses.) \u201cBut then there was a turning point. I said, I\u2019m not going to focus on what\u2019s missing here. I\u2019m going to focus on what can be built.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So Mr. Shimura started with the basics. At a recent practice, using a mix of Japanese, basic Portuguese and pantomime, he demonstrated stances on how to field ground balls and throw to a base.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As he scurried and hopped around the field, it was clear he had more energy than the players. And he was constantly talking, offering loud, positive encouragement, even though the players weren\u2019t exactly sure what he was saying.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou have to decipher,\u201d said Aluisio Carvalho, 23, a teacher wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t understand a word he said, when he demonstrates the movement, you at least have a notion of what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The players have begun using some Japanese words \u2014 shoto for shortstop and fasto for first base, for instance \u2014 and even now sometimes bow on the field, mirroring their coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Shimura has also tried to impart some hallmarks of Japanese baseball. He spent time trying to explain why teamwork is important, drawing diagrams of plays. He showed his students how to maintain the field and equipment. And he demonstrated how to give respect to umpires and competitors. \u201cI want to teach more than just baseball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Brazilians said they were attracted to baseball by American movies or Japanese anime \u2014 one said his introduction to the sport was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Peu4LsVScd8\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a Woody Woodpecker cartoon<\/a> \u2014 and then they fell in love with the novelty and pace of the game once they tried it. \u201cYou can be skinny and play, and you can be fat,\u201d said Luan David, 18, who is studying to be a sommelier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The players said they were inspired by Mr. Shimura\u2019s nonstop energy and positivity. \u201cHe\u2019s much more of a motivational coach than a strictly professional one,\u2019\u2019 said Rafael Dantas, 29, an information technology worker and pitcher. \u201cMore emotional than regimented. And for the level we\u2019re playing at, that\u2019s worth a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe\u2019s a real teacher,\u201d he added. \u201cA true sensei.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Dantas is one of the longest-tenured players, first introduced to baseball at a Japanese cultural event in Rio eight years ago. He and other more experienced players make up the core of the team \u2014 the \u201cCariocas\u201d \u2014 which plays at a dirt baseball diamond along Rio\u2019s picturesque lagoon and in view of its famous mountain ranges. The location draws plenty of curiosity from passers-by who have never seen live baseball. That is partly why Mr. Shimura is coaching so many novices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marcio Ramos, 44, a motorcycle delivery man, was at his fifth practice. He had wandered up to ask questions weeks earlier \u2014 the most he knew about baseball was from watching the Brad Pitt film \u201cMoneyball\u201d \u2014 and now he had learned how to hit from Mr. Shimura. \u201cHe speaks the universal language of sport,\u201d Mr. Ramos said. \u201cYou basically translate what he wants without understanding what he says.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A few minutes later, Mr. Ramos hit a ball over the fence for the first time. Mr. Shimura screamed in delight. \u201cMuscle!\u201d Mr. Shimura said, running up to squeeze Mr. Ramos\u2019s biceps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI try to be happy with the little things that can be achieved,\u201d Mr. Shimura said. \u201cWhen they improve little by little, that\u2019s where I find my joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yukihiro Shimura always arrives first. He quietly puts on his baseball uniform. He rakes the dirt field meditatively. He picks up the coconut husks and dog poop. And, finally, when he finishes, he bows to Rio de Janeiro\u2019s only baseball field. Then his misfit team \u2014 including a geologist, graphic designer, English teacher, film student, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/28\/world\/28brazil-japan-baseball-promo\/28brazil-japan-baseball-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17277,2185,6606,121,17276],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12166,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12164\/revisions\/12166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}